As parents are doing last-minute preparations for birth of new foal, their two daughters are sent to live with their aunt.
It takes a lot of preparation for a new foal. Some changes to the house are needed. It is hard to tend to two young pegasi and to prepare for a new foal - at the same time, trying to hide a family secret from innocent eyes and ears... so luckily, kind aunt stepped in and generously offered to host the fillies at her place. Maybe... just maybe... she bit more than she can chew...
The cute-ceañera was coming to an end. Treats and drinks ran low. Foals were picked by their parents one by one, until only five ponies remained in the room. Silver Cloud, the filly whose celebration it was. Dusk Cloud, her older sister. The girls' parents, Snow Cloud and Bright Sky. And Snow's sister, Silver Lining.
"We are so proud of you, Silver" Bright Sky chimed for another time this day, filled with pride. "First in class to receive her cutie mark!"
Dusk Cloud smiled sheepishly, her tail instinctively covering her own bare flank. "Yeah, Silver. I see you're going for gold" she chuckled, doing her best not to feel upset that her younger sister beat her to getting a cutie mark. After all, it was celebration. And celebration meant cake, even if it was in someone else's honor.
"Mom, stop it... you're embarrassing me" Silver Cloud sighed. She was feeling tired with this affection and attention. "I just- I want to go read a book or something... or just lay down... just... leave me alone, okay?" she said tiredly. Indeed, it was already dusk, and the day was eventful for the young filly. Snow Cloud chuckled and hugged his daughter in his wings.
"Come on, you will miss it once you're not the baby of the family anymore" he held her close, stroking her mane. Silver Cloud looked up at him, then at her mother, and at him again.
"What do you mean?" she asked. Dusk Cloud's ears perched up.
"Do you mean what I think you mean?" she asked their mother, who nodded, beaming with smile.
"We are expecting a new foal soon" Bright Sky announced. This was enough for Silver Cloud to forget her tiredness and zoom back to her mother as fast as her wings allowed her.
"Really?! A new foal? A colt or a filly? When? I won't need to move in to Dusk's room, right?" she asked quickly. Dusk huffed. As if it could happen! Silver had her own room, and it could fit both her and the new foal. After all, two younger foals need less space than one quite big and one smaller.
"We actually planned to do some... renovations" Snow Cloud grinned. "We need to prepare the nursery room and expand the house to suit everyone. We have enough time for this before the new foal is born."
"Are you sure it's a good idea?" Silver Lining asked, worried. "You all know how lively the girls are. You will find it hard to do nearly any of the renovations... with Silver's energy... with Dusk's night flying habits..."
The adult pegasi looked at each other while Dusk tried to appear invisible. She knew she was trouble. She enjoyed flying at night and felt like sun hurt her eyes, so she usually slept through day after school, wearing tinted goggles when she had to be active during the day.
"And so, maybe the girls can stay with me for the time being? It will allow you to focus on redecoration" Silver Lining offered. She had taken care of both fillies now and then, for a few hours, so she felt confident she could deal with that.
It was a generous offer for the parents. While Bright Sky hesitated for a while, Snow Cloud was eager to immediately pack the fillies' saddlebags. Dusk trotted after her father, wanting to help. Silver Cloud meanwhile was too excited to do anything coherent. Silver Lining embraced her, chuckling. She loved the bubbly personality of her younger niece and always felt a little guilty for sometimes favoring her.
"Big day for you, huh, sweetie? Cutie mark, going to be a big sister and now sleepover with auntie... go, help daddy pack your things" she ruffled her mane. As the filly whirled away, Silver Lining approached Bright Sky. She gently stroked her sister-in-law's back.
"Thank you a lot" Bright Sky smiled. "I should make you a list about what to expect. You know, Silver Cloud can barely sit still for minutes, and Dusk Cloud..."
"...needs her goggles whenever she leaves home during the day, got it. She's a big girl, I'm sure she remembers to pack them. How about flying at night?"
"Don't worry about it. She's a great flier and will certainly just return home before dawn. Don't expect her to bring friends over from school either..."
Silver Lining sadly nodded. "I get it. Don't worry."
Soon the girls trotted towards their aunt. Silver Cloud proudly displayed new patches on her saddlebags, resembling her cutie mark. Silver Lining embraced them and soon took them to her house. It was nearly at the other end of town, so the three of them didn't waste any time. Dusk Cloud happily frolicked through moonlit clouds, paying no mind to her sister's calls to hurry up. The night was just too beautiful to pass.
After the fillies left with their aunt, Snow Cloud and Bright Sky trotted towards a large chest in their bedroom. Bright Sky swallowed hard, but stepped forward.
"Are you ready?" Snow Cloud asked gently, embracing her with his wing. The mare nodded shakily.
"I can't be more ready than I am now" she whispered. Snow pushed the chest aside, revealing door.
"Do you think the fillies remember anything?" he asked. The chest had been in this place for years.
"Maybe Dusk... she can have some glimpses. I'm nearly certain Silver was too young to know" Bright pushed the door open. She took a deep breath before she entered.
Behind the door was fully equipped nursery room. Although dusty, it still seemed to be in good condition, from the walls through the furniture to the smallest decorations. Some of the toys and clothes had belonged to Dusk or Silver before, but most were new, never used, never worn. Even the bright bunting above crib, saying "Welcome Baby Cloud" was intact.
Only there was no baby to welcome.
Not until now.
"I want to name him or her..." Bright Sky touched her abdomen. "Rainbow Cloud."
Dusk Cloud flew by her aunt's side, enjoying the evening weather. She chuckled, looking at her sister, who was half-asleep by now. Silver Lining supported the younger filly. Dusk Cloud picked up her saddlebags, trying to help.
She never wanted to be a burden.
"Here you go. You will share the guest room for now" Silver Lining announced, tucking Silver Cloud in bed. Dusk Cloud looked out of window, smiling at the rising moon.
"Auntie, I'm going for a fly" she said. Silver Lining nodded.
"Stay close and be safe" she warned. But Dusk was already gone. She glided downwards, enjoying to fly just above trees. Some treetops even tickled her tummy, making her giggle. She flew up and did a few barrel rolls.
As far as she could see, nopony was around. Nopony was awake. It was truly a shame, as above clouds, night sky was as beautiful as ever, and when she dove below clouds, she could see faint light of the moon shimmering through. But then she flew further and looked down onto one of many villages, and it was quiet. Too quiet.
Dusk hovered between village and clouds, suddenly overwhelmed by nightly silence. Every single night, she hoped somepony like her would appear and play with her. Not certainly go for a nightly flight; it could as well be a unicorn or an earth pony. Just somepony to admire the wonders of night together, to play together, to be her friend...
Slowly, she descended to the ground. She trotted around the village, but there was no sign of ponies around. She approached a hut and peeked inside. The earth pony family she saw inside were all asleep. Mother, father, three foals... Dusk trotted away. Soon she sighed heavily and flew up, back to her aunt's place. She should be used to it. Ponies weren't around when she was awake, and she wasn't awake when other ponies frolicked in blinding sun... blinding for her, at least.
She entered her aunt's house. Normally she wouldn't feel so lonely, as her mother made it known she could wake her any time, day or night; but she couldn't expect her aunt to do the same. Dejected, she sat on bed and watched her sister sleep. Jealousy that was mitigated by cake before burst with full force. Silver Cloud had everything Dusk wished for. Normal eyes. A bunch of friends. A cutie mark...
Dusk took her saddlebags and reached for her studybooks. Without Bright Sky to guide her through her homework, she had to reread the chapter a few times until she made sense of it. Eventually she was done, and there was still a few hours left until the dawn.
The filly looked over at her younger sister. Silver had managed to kick the blanket away just enough to reveal the cutie mark. Dusk frowned and trotted over.
"Silver, wake up" she hissed, shaking her sister. Silver moaned, so Dusk shook her harder.
"What...? What are you doing, Dusk...?" Silver yawned. "It's still night..."
"Exactly!" Dusk Cloud grinned. "Wouldn't you want to go for a moonlit flight with me? To get the appettite running before breakfast? Come on, we hardly ever do things together..."
Silver Cloud woke up a bit grumpy. It had to be that weirdo of her sister to try to wake her before the dawn. It was enough that Dusk would fly out at night, but why would she have to wake Silver for that? Silver wasn't a night freak. Silver was a perfectly normal pegasus filly, sleeping through night and awake through the day, under Princess Celestia's sun, as everypony should.
Lovely scent of crunchy oat cookies did wonders for Silver's mood though. Her stomach rumbled. She kicked off her blanket and trotted to kitchen.
Dusk was there, wearing those freaky tinted goggles, just taking a tray of oat cookies out of oven. Silver scowled, but she couldn't stay mad. Her sister was a weirdo, but she sure could bake. Which was lucky considering her sweet tooth.
"Whatever, I made oat cookies, so I guess it may be good. As for a morning" she huffed. She took a spatula to put cookies in their lunch bags for school, leaving more than enough for three ponies for breakfast. Silver grinned and ate, soon joined by her sister and aunt. After that the fillies were led to school.
Silver enjoyed flaunting her new cutie mark left and right. Both during recess and after classes, when Dusk left and went to sleep, while Silver hung out with friends.
"Oh, oh, the weather factory put some failed clouds outside!" her friend, Spring Showers, exclaimed. "We can take some to the clubhouse!"
The group snuck around the pile of clouds and selected a few. Silver Cloud shook a small one to test it, letting out a mixture of rain, snow and hail.
"Yep, definitely failed" she chuckled and helped her friends transport clouds. The clubhouse was getting cozier with every week. They were decorating it with yarn crafts, weather factory leftovers and some trinkets they collected over the moons.
"So you said your parents are expecting a new foal?" Thunder Rider asked. "This means they will be too busy to try to control you! We will be able to sneak out for longer times!"
"Oh, don't forget the snack times" Spring Showers added. "Once my little sister was born, all my parents started caring about was the baby, so they didn't even notice when I ate candy clouds instead of dinner. And when you're out, you won't get in their way."
"On the other hoof, if you are in the room with baby, and baby starts crying..."' Thunder Rider frowned. "That means biiiiig trouble. They immediately assume you're responsible."
"Only more reason to keep away" Silver assumed. The other fillies nodded in agreement.
"Oh, and you also might want to have more sleepovers at mine, Thunder's or in the clubhouse" Spring offered. "Nights get loud with new foals."
"Oh great" Silver rolled eyes. "As if Dusk waking me up wasn't enough."
"Operation Getting Clubhouse Ready For Sleepovers, start!" Thunder grinned. "Tomorrow, each of us brings pillows and blankets!"
They yelled in agreement and bumped hooves before making up the plans.
